How durable is a Jackson Kayak? I can only speak from experience based on the absolute torture I have put my Jackson Coosa through to answer this question. My Coosa is the real OG to begin with. It was born at the Jackson Kayak factory in Tennessee way back in 2011. One of the first generation in a long line of Coosa’s that has been produced there.

(Last two digits of serial number will show the year model of your Jackson Kayak.)

Back to the torture. My dad says I can tear up anything so my Coosa was at a disadvantage right off the bat. This yak has not sat around in a neat little garage to be used every now and then. It has been in a barn perched on a trailer waiting its next trip which came often. It has been loaded and unloaded from trailers and truck beds countless times. Dropped multiple times. Many a river mile it has made.

From the class lll rapids of the Coosa River which it gets its name sake to the saltwater of Gulf of Mexico and everywhere in between.

It’s baked in the the south Alabama sun floating the Choctawhatchee River. It’s been dragged over the jagged, razor sharp limestone shoals of the Chipola River. That stuff is brutal. It’s been pulled over miles of rocks and boulders in the Chattahoochee. Treacherous portages around lowhead dams.

Yanked off the end of concrete boat ramps.
It has been slid down embankments next to bridges where access required mission impossible theme music to get it done. Geez!The things people do just to catch a fish.

Even after the years of wear and tear this Coosa still has the original hi-lo seat.
I think the only thing I’ve had to repair is the skid plate on the stern. Jackson Kayak makes these replaceable and are only ten bucks on their website. With all that abuse it has never leaked one single time. How durable is a Jackson Kayak? I’ll let you make the call. Or better yet you could buy one and find out for yourself. Jackson Kayak still produces the Coosa, which in my opinion is the best river kayak ever made.

Sheldon Grace
Jackson Kayak Fishing Team